Destinations / The Most Famous Towers in the World / Big Ben
Big Ben
This clock on the tower of the Parliament of the United Kingdom can be heard around the world. The BBC Radio microphones transmit them every hour. It was for the first time that Big Ben stroke at night from 31 to 1 to the whole planet officially in international interim standard goes into the New Year.
Description
The world-famous clock Big Ben Tower is situated on the Houses of Parliament in London. The very same parliament building is located on the banks of the Thames near Westminster. The Palace of Westminster previously served as a refuge for kings, and now the Lords and Commons are there. Inside the building, there are more than 1,200 rooms and halls, and whole miles of corridors. But the most famous part of the Palace is undoubtedly the clock tower Big Ben. These hours can be heard at the beginning of each hour on the radio BBC, and on the night of December 31 to January 1. The first strike of Big Ben has officially announced the beginning of the New Year in the world. Getting inside the 96-meter tower can only use a narrow spiral staircase. After the completion of all 334 steps, you will find yourself in a small open area in the center where the legendary, the Big Ben bell is. You'd be surprised, but Big Ben is not at all hours, as many believe. Over the years this name means clocks, bells, and even the tower itself. Originally it was a bell, which decades later would be known around the world. The dimensions of "Big Ben" are really impressive - the height is of over 2-meters and the base diameter is of almost 3 meters. There are several theories as to why the bell got its name. A theory is that Big Ben was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who was director of operations for casting bells. For the second version, the bell-heavyweight ( weighed 13.7 tons) was named in honor of the popular at the time boxer Benjamin Count, who spoke in the heavyweight division. The tower itself was built back in 1858. The clock was set a bit later and started on May 21, 1859. The height of the structure reaches the 61st meters, and considering the sticks into the overcast sky spire of London, all of 96 meters. The clock mechanism is located at an altitude of 55 meters above the ground. The clock has impressive dimensions: the diameter is of 7 meters, the length of the large and small arrows are of 2.7 and 4.2 meters respectively. Thanks to such a significant size, London hours were long considered the greatest of the world for hours, losing the first place only recently. Each of the 4-dial was affixed a Latin inscription - " Domine salvam FAC Reginam nostram Victoriam Primam ", which means" God save our Queen Victoria. " The five-ton clock mechanism is checked several times throughout the day. It is interesting that the accuracy of the monitor uses coins-penny, and what is not normal, was only issued until 1971. The clockmakers added or removed a coin from swinging back and forth a huge pendulum. This procedure ensures precision to Big Ben.
Big Ben, during its existence, has become a symbol of Great Britain and London. The image of the clock tower can be often found in advertising, films, books in English. To get inside the famous tower is very difficult for tourists, because tours are conducted only during September.
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Since ancient times, this is an unspoken competition among architects to be the builder of the tallest building, of the longest bridge, of the most original house, of the most beautiful churches, etc.
Telling the truth, the architects began to receive recognition for their work only in recent times (since the era of modern times.
) Prior to that, until the time of the late Middle Ages, all the laurels battered rulers, barons, knights and other nobles, many of whom did not know what the project construction is.
There are several categories of buildings, which, thanks to their impressive size are among the most famous man-made objects.
These categories include the pyramids, bridges, towers and skyscrapers.
A tower is a high engineering construction.
The main differences from the other towers, tall buildings are the lack of braces (console design, fixed only at the bottom)and extremely low internal volume, and sometimes the entire volume of the tower is occupied by only one staircase.
As an engineering construction, the tower belongs to the antenna-mast structures.
The most commonly towers use antennas and feeder equipment for their location.
For example, mobile operators are placed on towers and relay panel antenna.
If the height of the antenna-mast structures (AMC), is more than 45 feet , it requires an electricity system.
This requirement REGA to ensure safety.
The creators of the Eiffel Tower gave the go-ahead starting the present stage of the competition for the title of " the biggest skyscraper or tower of the world.
" Built in 1889 it became the tallest (312m) building in the world.
Prior to its two thousand years the palm kept Pyramid of Giza (147m).
After the Eiffel Tower became the champions of the growth series: the Empire State Building (381m) in New York, Chicago Sears Tower (442m), Malaysia's Petronas Towers (452m), Taiwan's Taipei 101 (508m).
The latter was built in 2004 and held the title of the world's tallest skyscraper until 21 July 2007, when the line was broken by the cherished tower Burj Dubai in United Arab Emirates.
It rose to a height of 512 meters.
The construction of the tower is not yet complete, its completion is scheduled for late 2008.
According to the statements of architects, its height will reach a record high indeed - 808 meters.
The cost of the construction of the tower is estimated at one billion dollars and has lasted for almost four years.
The average rate of the construction of one floor lasted three days.
The tower and the adjacent buildings occupied a land of 200 hectares (it cost the owners of the building 20 billion dollars).
The tower will be equipped with 56 elevators (incidentally, the fastest in the world), boutiques, swimming pools, apartments class "luxury" hotels, and observation sites .
A distinctive feature is the construction of the international working teams: South Korean firm contractor, American architects, Indian builders.
Four thousand people had been involved in the construction.
The building of the tower was created in the shape of a trefoil - a symbol of life in the desert.
Its spire will be visible at a distance of sixty miles.
The Burj Dubai Tower will be the center of a large architectural complex.
Among the buildings of the huge complex (12ha), there will be an artificial lake, 30 thousand homes, a large park area, nine hotels.
Since ancient times, people seek height.
The evidence of this fact can be found everywhere - from the ancient Egyptian pyramids to the modern skyscrapers.
The legend of the Tower of Babel explains this tendency as theomachism - people wanted to reach heaven and defeat the gods.
Then they did not succeed, God sent the exuberant wind, tossing the tower, and mixed in a sentence all human languages.
But people have stubbornly continued to build high-rise structures - whether we wanted to prove his power, or trying to get closer to God, or seeking other worlds .
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But as a person - just a man, and him, as did the ancient Romans, to err, it sometimes happened that tall buildings do not want to look up and just started to lean down to its creators.
So, many towers fell .
The reasons for the fall of the towers is the most different, many of them are connected with the peculiarities of the soil or with errors in the design and construction.
But, of course, each tower has an explanation of this feature.
A good tower is usually not one but several legends associated with its slope.
And certainly the leaning tower is a local (and sometimes known in the whole world) landmark.
If the tower identified its status, it is immediately placed in local guidebooks, and even brings considerable income.
We will cover the most famous bowing towers, each remarkable in its own way.
The most famous of falling towers are one of the oldest.
The tower is a bell tower and is part of the architectural ensemble, which also includes the cathedral, baptistery and cemetery.
All this is built of white marble and it simply shines in sunny weather .
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